Mozilla on Wednesday released an update for Firefox 1.5 that fixes several security flaws and makes other changes aimed at improving the open-source Web browser. The update, Firefox version 1.5.0.1, patches a total of eight security vulnerabilities. One is deemed "critical" by Mozilla, four are rated "moderate" risk, and three are tagged "low" risk. The more serious flaws could let an attacker take over a system running a vulnerable version of Firefox, according to Mozilla’s security alerts.

The Justice Department reiterated concerns Wednesday over a potential shutdown of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry service in the U.S., saying it remains unclear how a blackout would impact government workers. "There are still a number of serious questions to be answered as to how an injunction can be implemented so as to continue BlackBerry service for governmental and other excepted groups," the department said in a brief filed with a federal district court in Virginia. RIM is locked in a legal battle with U.S. patent holding company NTP. The case goes back to 2001, when NTP filed a suit against RIM claiming that the BlackBerry infringed on its patents. A jury found in favor of NTP and awarded the company damages.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is raising the possibility that records sought in the CIA leak investigation could be missing because of an email archiving problem at the White House. The prosecutor in the criminal case against Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff said in a Jan. 23 letter that not all email was archived in 2003. Lawyers for defendant I. Lewis Libby accused prosecutors of withholding evidence the Libby camp says it needs to mount a defense.

IBM is outfitting its line of System i5 servers with the new Power5+ processor and is introducing the newest version of its i5/OS operating system. The enhancements are designed to improve the performance and reach of the systems–which are targeted at SMBs (small and midsize businesses)–while upgrading the flexibility, security and disaster recovery capabilities in the operating system, according to Ian Jarmen, product manager for IBM’s iSeries platform.

Take a peek under the hood of IBM Workplace Collaboration Services and learn about the layers that make up Workplace Collaboration Services, including IBM WebSphere Application Server and IBM WebSphere Portal. Long-time users of IBM Lotus Notes and Domino (especially those using them for more than just email) know full well the richness of functionality and the power of the platform for creating all kinds of collaborative applications. Many Notes/Domino fans are not, however, sure what benefits they can derive from combining the power of their Domino-based applications with IBM’s J2EE (Java 2, Enterprise Edition) frameworks and product offerings.

Large-scale outsourcing deals promise big savings, but they fail half the time. When strategic relationships are good, they’re very good. Client and vendor work together, and the benefits accrue to both parties’ bottom lines. But when they are bad, they’re awful. Client and vendor can develop an adversarial relationship and become embroiled in bitter contract battles. In fact, half of all strategic partnerships fail, according to a study by CISR and CIO.

The U.K. High Court has ordered 10 Internet service providers to hand over information of 150 customers accused of illegally sharing and downloading desktop software on the Web. The illegal file-sharers were identified after a 12-month covert investigation by the Federation Against Software Theft called Operation Tracker. The federation, a software industry group that fights piracy, said it also suspects that some of the individuals were using their employers’ corporate networks for trading the software illegally. The individuals all use false names but the federation has now secured the court orders that will force the Internet service providers to hand over personal details, including names, addresses and dates of birth, of the 150 individuals.

In an effort to stem the fast-growing tide of Web application security breaches, Acunetix announced that it is offering free Web site security audits to 5,000 enterprise organizations. The company believes that these audits will prevent hundreds of security breaches that would otherwise have led to valuable customer details, credit card numbers and proprietary corporate data being exposed. The free security audits will be performed by Acunetix staff using Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner, a comprehensive tool that automatically audits Web sites for SQL injection, cross site scripting, Google hacking and other vulnerabilities. Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner simulates numerous hacking techniques such as SQL injection, cross site scripting and more to identify vulnerabilities. As the scan is being completed, the software produces detailed reports that pinpoint where vulnerabilities exist. By automating scans, Acunetix allows enterprises to conduct a thorough and complete vulnerability scan quickly and cost effectively. This special offer is available for a limited time.

Salesforce.com, which has had several high-profile system outages over the past couple of months, is apparently still having issues. Salesforce.com’s servers were down for several hours on Jan. 30, between about 10 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. Eastern, according to Salesforce.com customers. Jame Ervin, technical account manager at Dynamic Network Factory, said that things have been moving downhill at Salesforce.com for the past couple of weeks. Bruce Francis, vice president of corporate communications at Salesforce.com, said reports of today’s outage are "not accurate."

IBM announced the availability of DB2 Universal Database Express-C (DB2 Express-C), a versatile and easy to deploy data server openly available for download, at no cost, to customers, developers and partners. With DB2 Express-C, IBM is increasing its commitment to enabling and supporting the growing community of DB2 developers and customers by offering a no-cost version of the product, making it easier for them to create and deploy applications and solutions that meet their changing information management requirements.